Auchtertool Residents Fear for Future Amidst Plans for Giant Data Centre

Lindsey Charnley and her family moved to peaceful Auchtertool so her children could enjoy a rural childhood.

Her youngest son, Teddy, is nine and has had 27 brain operations in the last four years. Noisy environments cause him debilitating pain.

But their future in the Fife village is uncertain as plans are underway to build one of the world's largest data centres on the other side of their garden fence.

The hubs store, process and run large amounts of data and software which power the internet, and there are 24 currently in the planning process in Scotland.

With a plentiful supply of renewable energy to power them, Scotland is considered an ideal location - but they are controversial in local communities.

The 600MW data centre planned for Auchtertool would span 60 hectares (150 acres) and run round-the-clock to support artificial intelligence (AI).

Developers say it would create 120 jobs in an area which has recently seen large-scale job losses with the closure of Mossmorran chemical works.

They pledged to speak to local people individually in a bid to address their concerns.

Lindsey said her family would have no choice but to move if the plans were to go ahead.

"I can't believe anyone would think it is appropriate to build a data centre the same size as our village on our doorstep," she said.

"There are so many concerns, but for my family it will be the noise and chaos from the construction, my son won't cope with that."

"We are still trying to figure out how best to support his pain so the noise levels are a huge factor for us," Lindsey added.

"If the centre goes ahead we can't stay here. We will have to uproot.

"All his medical staff are nearby and his additional support needs school, it will be a complete disaster for us."

There are currently 15 data centres operating across Scotland - the biggest is in Lanarkshire and has a capacity of 12MW.

But there has been a spike in applications to build hyperscale data centres - which have a power capacity of more than 100MW - since the Scottish government launched an action plan in 2021, external.

The Cato data centre in Auchtertool is in the early stages of the planning process, with the Scottish government currently considering whether an environmental impact assessment will be needed.

ILI Group, the company behind the proposal, also has plans to build similar hyperscale hubs in North Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.

Michael Hodgson and his partner Jonathan Leitch have lived in Auchtertool for 13 years and are worried about the impact a data centre could have on their holiday rental business.

"It's a quiet log cabin surrounded by trees and nature," Michael said.

"The construction noise and the development would destroy the attraction of staying here and consequently a drop in bookings would hit us greatly."

If the hub gets the go-ahead, it would be built across the road from Michael's home and his Airbnb.

He said that at 35m (114ft) high, it would be "three times the height of my house".

"It is going to be 600MW - just 50MW less than the largest one in Nevada which is 650MW," he added.

"The village will be left in the shadows of the data centre.

"It's huge. It is like having a tower block laid on its side plonked in the middle of the countryside."

The planned data centres would rely on renewable electricity, which is produced in abundance in Scotland by wind turbines.

But turbines are often effectively "turned off" due to lack of capacity in the electricity grid - resulting in substantial "compensation" payments for the wind farm companies.

ILI Group CEO Mark Wilson said they want to make better use of that surplus energy.

"The head of the National Grid said that if you are going to put a data centre in the UK, put it in Scotland because if it is going to help with that extra supply, billions won't be wasted and it should eventually bring consumer household bills down.

"Scotland is in a position not a lot of other countries are and we feel this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss," he said.

However, Wilson acknowledged that there had been negative feedback to their plans for Auchtertool.

He said they wanted to talk to people individually, listen to their concerns and consider what they can do to alleviate their worries.

Their planned hubs in Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and Fife would have a combined energy capacity of 1540GW, he added.

"We believe we will create a blueprint for an all-green AI data centre that will be replicated all over the world," he said.

The construction of hyperscale data centres across the country could create hundreds of new jobs, he added.

Wilson said: "We believe the sites for our data centres are the right sites for Scotland.

"The site in Fife is already in an industrial area which is ideal for employment.

"It is also close to the Mossmorran power plant that shut down recently causing job losses.

"We are creating hundreds of apprenticeships so we can retrain those who worked at Mossmorran to move into the data centre or renewable energy sector."

The issue was raised this week by the Scottish Greens at the final First Minister's Questions before the summer recess, where they called on John Swinney to back a moratorium on planning approvals.

Swinney replied that he understood the environmental concerns over hyperscale data centres and was giving "active consideration" to whether local authorities should be given new national planning guidance.

He said such guidance might be a way of balancing the rapid expansion of such centres with national energy and climate goals.

A Scottish government spokesperson said the voices of communities affected by these developments must be central to any considerations.

They added that planning authorities have a responsibility to consider the environmental implications of all developments which require planning permission.